st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

"
JOHN MANSOUR. 35
rne with some portion of his beatitude. Forgive
me, thrice-blessed one, and be my fervent and un
ceasing intercessor with God, for that I, thy name
sake, out of my strong affection for thee, essayed to
complete the work which another had begun ;
and
with the materials he had collected, as best he could,
have made this version under thy auspices from
Arabic into Greek. Make me, too, without material
alloy, a worshipper of the Trinity ;
make me to be
so rapt in ecstasy from the body, even while a
sojourner in that it, I may be borne far hence in con
templation, a burnt-offering consumed in the flame of
divine love ;
that so, when I put off this mortal
vesture in tranquility, I may with confidence appealbefore
thee and before my God. To whom be glory
for ever and ever. Amen."
With such words does this Life of St. John of
Damascus end. As the reader will have perceived,
there is a want of definiteness and precision about it
which makes it
impossible to feel much confidence in
our guide. It strikes us as the composition of one
who had very scanty materials to work upon, and
who tried to compensate for the scarcity of facts by
rhetorical enlargements, and superficial conclusions
from the writings of Damascenus themselves. On
the incident which has chiefly obtained for it the
epithets of "legendary"
and "fabulous,"
the restora
tion of the dismembered hand such opposite judg
ments will be passed, according to the point of view
of the reader, that it is of no use trying to smooth
difficulties or suggest any way of compromise. Such a
story is thoroughly in keepingwith the habits of thought
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